Jun hated the position he had suddenly been thrust in. With the sudden loss of the television remote, he had been forced by Shinku and Suiseiseki to become a blood hound and find out where the remote had gone to. Jun had already turned the entire house upside down looking for it. The only place he hadn't looked was the mirror room, and that was where he was now, ruffling through boxes, hoping that somehow, the remote would magically appear there.
"Shinku, It's not in here. I'm absolutely sure of it." Jun turned to see the doll staring anxiously at him.
"Jun, it's unacceptable that you haven't found it yet. I've already missed the start of Kun-Kun, and instead of finding it, you just tell me you that you're sure you don't have it. Now find it before I miss more of Kun-Kun." The doll turned and walked out of the door frame into the living room.
"You know, the TV set has buttons it!" Jun called after her, even though he knew it wouldn't be any use to try and have her use the buttons of the TV.
Jun sighed, and was about to leave the mirror room when a book shuffled away in a dark corner caught his eye. Walking over, Jun picked up the old book carefully and glanced it over. The musty smell emanating from it was almost to much to handle. Jun was about to toss the book aside, but something caught his eye. In the darkness of the room, Jun couldn't see what it was. As he walked out into the light of the hallway, he immediately recognized what he saw on the cover. While the black cover had a giant red pentagram upon it, and symbols of all shapes and sizes flowed through the pentagram, in the middle part was a clear drawing of a Rosa Mystica.
Jun stared at the book for a moment, and then opened it up to a random page. He was greeted by an old picture of a peddler with a knapsack slung over his back. On the other side was a description in Japanese. Surprised, Jun read a bit of what the text said.
"The Cruel Merchant refers to himself by many names, but the one name that will get his attention if uttered is "Der lügnerische Großhändler." One can summon the Cruel Merchant simply by drawing a pentagram and uttering this name. However, the Cruel Merchant will not be in a good mood with the summoner if this is done…"
Jun snapped the book shut. Wide-eyed, he looked down at the book shakily. "A book…on how to summon demons?" he asked quietly to himself. Though he knew he probably shouldn't, curiosity gnawed furiously at Jun, and he opened up the book to the page he was previously at and read on.
"The cruel Merchant can grant any wish the summoner desires, from power and wealth, to resurrecting the dead. However, the Cruel Merchant doesn't give these things away. He trades things for them, and usually, the summoner will wish they had never traded with the Cruel Merchant. If the summoner demands to know the price they must pay for their wish to be granted, they must ask the Cruel Merchant before he is dismissed. He will not tell the summoner his price if the summoner doesn't ask."
Jun closed the book more gently this time. "Any wish the summoner desires huh?" Jun pondered a moment to himself.
"Jun, have you found the remote yet?" Shinku's voice came from the living room.
"Ah, Shinku, I found the remote desu! It was under the sofa!" Jun heard Suiseiseki's voice follow after Shinku's. In a moment, Jun heard the TV turn on, and the familiar sound of Kun-Kun's voice reached his ears.
"Hmm, I should probably wait till their asleep before I test this out…" Jun thought to himself. Sprinting up the stairs, Jun quickly threw the book under his bed, flinching as he heard it clunk against the two boxes he wished he didn't have to keep under his bed.
Turning on his computer, Jun opened up his internet browser and started searching the web for anything on The Cruel Merchant. "This may be a chance…" he said to himself
quietly as he opened many tabs to occult sites.
Later on that night, at around midnight, Jun got out of bed slowly. Luckily for him, Shinku and Suiseiseki hadn't been paying to much attention to him, and didn't notice that he hadn't changed into pajamas.
Reaching under the bed, Jun pulled out the untitled occult book. Now that it was actually night time, the cover seemed a lot more intimidating. However, Jun could clearly still see the drawing of a Rosa Mystica in the middle of the pentagram. Steeling himself, Jun grabbed some "Demon Chalk" from his desk that he had recently purchased, opened his door silently, and tip-toed downstairs, unaware that upstairs, Shinku and Suiseiseki opened up their boxes and glanced after him with concern.
"What do you think that chibi-human is up too desu?"
"Let's go see." Shinku replied softly, and the two crept to the bottom of the stairs, where they heard scratching coming from the living room. The door to the living room ajar, the two dolls peered in to see what Jun was doing.
By this time, Jun had finished drawing the pentagram on the table, and was staring at it. His hand that griped the "Demon Chalk" was trembling slightly. After a full minute of slightly trembling, Jun breathed in deeply, and let it out as a sigh. Grimacing, Jun closed his eyes.
"Der lügnerische Großhändler." Jun said slowly, making sure to say the name correctly. As soon as the last syllable was uttered, Jun gritted his teeth and turned his face away from the pentagram, keeping his eyes shut tight. Shinku and Suiseiseki watched wide eyed, not knowing what would happen next.
A minute passed, and everything was still. Jun stopped gritting his teeth and looked at the pentagram, confused. "Der lügnerische Großhändler" Jun said again, a tad bit of annoyance in his voice. Again, for a minute, nothing happened.
Jun gritted his teeth and glared at the book, which he had laid nest to the pentagram. "Make a fool out of me will you, you stupid book?" Jun's voice was getting louder with each passing moment. "Well, lie all you want book! I know now you're just a stupid fake book! I know-" A soft, hand with and incredibly strong grip suddenly covered Jun's mouth.
"Shhhhh…We don't want to wake the entire neighborhood, now do we?" a voice that can only be described as pure evil whispered into Jun's ear.
Suiseiseki and Shinku both gasped silently. The man had appeared from nowhere!
"Chibi Hu-" Suiseiseki tried to cry out, but Shinku's hand stopped her.
"Suiseiseki, shh! I don't think Jun is in any danger. If this man had meant him harm, he would have already done so. Let us just continue to watch for now."
Suiseiseki started to muffle a complaint, but a glare from Shinku quieted her, and she slowly nodded her head, allowing Shinku to release her.
Jun trembled greatly as the hand increased its grip over his mouth. "You know, it has been about a hundred years since I was last summoned. I have the power to make men world conqueror's, make them immortal, give them ultimate knowledge, and a myriad of many other fantastical abilities and traits, and here I find myself summoned by a brat in his kitchen, and he dared to call me Der lügnerische Großhändler. You're lucky you piped my interest, or else I would have already dragged you to hell with me by now." The hand released its grip and Jun fell to the floor. Looking behind him, Jun gazed upon the Cruel Merchant.
The Cruel Merchant was a tall man with red hair in a white business suit. His green eyes held a neutral look as they looked down upon Jun. It was impossible to tell that this was a demon just by looking at him. However, there was an evil aura about him that only the truly oblivious would miss.
As Jun adjusted his glasses, The Cruel Merchant raised an eyebrow. "I know you don't want power or fame or wealth. I can tell just from looking at you that you're not the kind of person, so what do you want?"
Jun got to his feet shakily. "You look nothing like the picture of you." he said, trying to steady his voice.
The Cruel Merchant shrugged. "I change with the times. A lot more people seem to trust men in suits nowadays, or so I've seen, and all I want is for people to trust me."
The Cruel Merchant let out a vicious cackle. "Now, what can I trade you for?"
Jun cleared his throat and looked at The Cruel Merchant with suspicion. "Can you really bring people back from the dead?"
The Cruel Merchant snorted. "Of course I can. Death is not a tough barrier for me to cross."
"Well what if the people I want brought back aren't people?"
The Cruel Merchant gave Jun a confused looked, while Shinku and Suiseiseki gasped. "Jun, no…Father said it was my responsibility…mine…not yours…" Shinku said sadly, pleading with her eyes for Jun not to do this. Suiseiseki covered her mouth slightly and mouthed "Jun…" silently.
"What do you mean, not people?…Oh…I see." The Cruel Merchant grinned fiendishly at Jun. "You mean those two empty dolls without souls you've stored away upstairs under your bed? You want me to get their Rosa Mysticas back, don't you?"
Jun didn't respond.
The Cruel Merchant shrugged. "It is done."
Everyone gasped. "That's…that's all there is to it?" Jun stammered.
"Correct. That's all there is to it." The Cruel Merchant glanced at a non-existent watch on his wrist. "The two should be awake next morning." Glancing over to Shinku and Suiseiseki, The Cruel merchant grinned. "You know, daughters of Rozen, I can use my power to instantly turn one of you into Alice. Give me a call if you ever want to take me up on that offer."
Both Shinku and Suiseiseki took a step back in amazement. Jun glanced over at the door in confusion before spotting Shinku and Suiseiseki. "Shinku! Suiseiseki! What are you two doing here?"
"We noticed that chibi-human was acting strange today, so we wanted to see what you were doing Desu!"
"Jun, who is this? How can he have power like this?" Shinku asked.
"He'll have time to tell you later. In the mean time, if I have no other business here, then I shall be off.
Jun quickly remembered something from the text. "Wait! I demand to know what price you took for giving back Souseiseki's and Hinaichigo's Rosa Mysticas!"
"Oh, drat, I thought I could slip away without telling you." The Cruel Merchant chuckled. "I've just made sure that they can no longer become Alice…ever."
Jun stared at The Cruel Merchant in surprise, but Shinku and Suiseiseki stared at him in complete horror.
"H-how can you do something so cruel? How can you do something so evil?" Shinku asked, trembling as she spoke. Suiseiseki just broke down and cried.
"Simple little Rozen Maiden. I'm a demon. Your father learned that lesson the hard way too. Now I must be off. I'm needed at-" A miniature figure in a brown cloak suddenly smashed through the glass doors to the backyard., drawing a sword and charging The Cruel Merchant. In a puff of smoke, The Cruel Merchant was gone, but not fast enough, as the small figure's sword has some black, smoldering liquid upon it.
Looking across the room at the shocked figures staring at it, the miniature figure sheathed its sword with hands the size of the Rozen Maiden's.
"It seems you learned the hard way about deals with The Cruel Merchant. That is most unfortunate." The voice coming from the hooded head of the figure was undeniably male.
"Who…who are you?" Jun asked after he had recovered from the shock.
The figure pulled back its hood, revealing a doll face as perfect as the Rozen Maiden's, with hair as blonde and eyes as blue as Shinku's. "My name is Siegfried, and I need your help to kill my father, The Cruel Merchant."